> I’m unaware of the state of the Perl ecosystem, does it have something similar [to numpy]?

Perl has PDL (http://pdl.perl.org), which I think predates numpy and does the same kind of array manipulation.

As for the original question, Python's dominance for "data science" projects is just a matter of momentum at this point: it's where Google and others have put their money, and that is now affecting undergraduate and graduate courses. Originally, I think it was just that some people didn't like Perl's syntax.

Personally, I prefer to use a mix of Perl and Julia, each for its respective strengths, and find Python all-around mediocre.